Author: Guest Posters

1. Who Are Your Planned Gift Prospects? – II
by John Elbare, CFP

The one thing we know for sure about donor behavior is that most planned gifts come from loyal donors. By “loyal” we mean those donors who reliably donate every year.

They are already sold on your mission, they believe in your cause, and they probably would like to do more to help, if they could.

This is the one critical prerequisite for launching a successful planned giving program. You need loyal donors. If you do yet have a growing base of loyal donors, you need to stop, back up, and take a look at your donor stewardship efforts.

If your organization has been around for at least a few years and you have a problem with a high donor lapse rate, you need to fix it.

Successful planned giving is all about building on rock solid donor relationships. Once you do have a growing base of loyal donors, you have a fertile pond in which to fish for planned gifts.

The fascinating part is that donor giving levels have very little to do with their likelihood of leaving planned gifts. It is the act of repetitive giving, year after year, regardless of the amount that signals a donor’s inclination to consider a planned gift.

Do not make the common mistake of looking for planned gifts only among your larger gift donors. Most organizations with successful planned giving programs have been pleasantly surprised at the large planned gifts they receive from donors who gave only $25 or $50 a year during life.

In our next Planned Giving post, we will discuss just why this is so and how you can use this knowledge to start raising planned gifts right away. We will also learn why donors often find it easier to arrange a planned gift than to give a larger annual gift.

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John Elbare, CFP, has spent the last 30 years helping non-profits raise more money
through large, planned gifts. He shows them how to add an effective planned giving
strategy to their current fund raising effort without a lot of extra expense or staff.
You can contact him at John Elbare, CFP.
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. The CFC and Non-Profit Sustainability – II
by Bill Huddleston

As I noted, last week, “Money Tree” programs are the ones that produce significant revenue with little direct effect on advancing program. They are, however, more important than may first be realized because they provide the funding to keep the “Hearts” beating.

The “Money Tree” is the category where a well-run CFC program for your non-profit should end up. Although it may be in the “Low Impact, Low Profitability” range when you first begin developing your CFC revenue stream, don’t be too quick to categorize it as a “stop sign” action.

It is interesting to note that there are some non-profits where their CFC revenues are in the “Star (High Impact, High Profitability)” category. One small cancer support charity, for example, receives 50% of its revenues through the CFC.

For many CFC charities, as they first begin developing their CFC revenue stream, their CFC activities may be in the “Low Impact, Low Profitability” category. But don’t be too quick to put it in with the “Stop Signs.”

You may be familiar with the concept of the fundraising pyramid, the 80/20 or 90/10 rules, but one problem with much of the fundraising literature is that there’s often a built-in presumption that the pyramid has already been built.

While this may be true (and often is) what’s ignored in that formula is the idea that you can determine in advance just who the people are in the twenty (or ten) percent category, without having to “bother” with the other eighty percent.

It doesn’t work that way.

What happens in the fundraising world is very similar to the stages that a farmer creating an apple orchard goes through. He first acquires a selection of seedlings, plants them, weeds them, waters them, prunes them and keeps pests away.

Some of those initial plants will die regardless of the best efforts of the farmer, others will grow to be a decent apple trees, and some will end up being a stupendous producers.

There’s no way to tell which of the seedlings (donors) will be in that top twenty percent. It doesn’t happen overnight and it’s impossible to predict which seedlings (donors) will be the dead or diseased seedlings (lapsed donors) or the decent seedlings (multiple year donors to the annual fund, with modest increases over time).

The fundraising pyramid is a pretty good model for what it shows … that a relatively small percentage of the non-profit’s supporters will provide a relatively larger percentage of its funds.

I’ll continue that thought next Wednesday.

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject(s) of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.

1. The CFC and Non-Profit Sustainability – I
by Bill Huddleston

In their 2010 book, Non-profit Sustainability – Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability, the authors, Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka and Steve Zimmerman, emphasized the fact that a non-profit’s “financial sustainability and programmatic sustainability cannot be separated.”

It’s impossible to have a successful non-profit that pays attention to just one of those principles, but yet most of the financial information and information about program impact is not discussed in an integrated manner.

The tool that was developed by the authors as a means of integrating this type of information and displaying it in a useful fashion is the “Matrix Map,” which combines group programs and financial information by business line as a means of developing an understanding of the actual impact of various programs.

I do recommend that you pick up a copy of the book because this post presents just one small example of the concept, and of the techniques covered.

The idea that both financial sustainability and programmatic impact are essential to non-profit success is sometimes referred to as the “dual bottom line.” The Matrix Map is a tool that places the various programs on a quadrant type chart, along with the related descriptions and financial results.

• The “Heart” programs are those that are important to core of the non-profit’s mission, but they do not generate significant revenue;
• The “Star” programs do both;
• The “Stop Sign” programs may be ones that have outlived their usefulness, and should just be discontinued, or given to another non-profit; and,
• The “Money Tree” programs are ones that produce significant revenue but do not have a big (direct) impact on program. They are, however, more important than may first be realized because they “provide the water” for the Hearts.

The “Money Tree,” at the least, is the category where a well-run CFC program for your non-profit should end up.

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See Part II of this piece next Wednesday, May 28.
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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. Evaluating The Chief Development Officer – III
by Tony Poderis

Last week I noted that not all of a Chief Development Officer’s responsibilities are directly related to fundraising … another reason why his/her performance should not be evaluated based just on dollars-raised.

Chief Development Officers are often involved with, if not supervising, marketing, public relations, communications, budgeting, etc., thus further complicating an assessment of that person’s effectiveness in carrying out her/his responsibilities.

The CDO’s bottom-line accountability depends, in great part, on the degree of coordination required and desired with fundraising volunteers, and the number of them organized, trained and managed in order to carry out the various campaigns and special events to their fullest capacity and effectiveness.

Another reason not to judge the CDO based on dollars is that where there is often the “blessing” of a serendipitous major donation, too often there is also the “curse” of a totally unexpected loss of a major gift which greatly and negatively affects the bottom line, but no way was the fault of the Development Director.

Along with the CDO’s ongoing work to help meet the current and impending funding needs, that professional will also be working with key volunteer leaders in the process of identifying, meeting with, and cultivating potential donors for their future (near and long term) giving.

That development professional may also be involved in the planning for a future endowment or capital campaign. And the results of those efforts will not be seen for some time … not now, as part of your current review and evaluation of your CDO.

Ideally, another area of activity on which your CDO should be evaluated … your organization will also have programs and services which can be “packaged” for corporate, foundation, or individual sponsors and underwriters.

Projecting those activities over time, well beyond the end of the current fiscal year, again gets one into the realm of “development,” a word denoting action and forward movement, but with results and evaluation being on a stretched sliding scale of time.

A final thought: When a Chief Development Officer is hired, s/he should have enough experience/expertise to tell an organization about the criteria on which s/he should be judged … and in what timeframe.

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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $3.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject(s) of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.

1. Preserve Institutional Knowledge to Ensure Better Proposals
by Jayme Sokolow

Most of us work in or with institutions that pride themselves on their ability to identify and access information quickly, but those institutions very often have short memories.

As Ron Ashkenas has pointed out in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network, although organizations “spend a lot of time and resources developing knowledge and capacity . . . most of it resides in the heads, hands, and hearts of individual managers and functional experts.”

But as time goes by, the effects of entropy take over and, as individuals in the organization leave, retire, or take on new positions within the organization, the knowledge fades.

There are, however, ways that nonprofits can institutionalize knowledge in proposal development to create better processes, better content, and more informed proposal team members.

Following Ron Ashkenas, I recommend three approaches to overcoming institutional amnesia:
• Recognize that the preservation of institutional knowledge is an organizational challenge  and responsibility, and formulate an explicit strategy for the maintenance of that knowledge, especially within your proposal team.
• Identify those important pieces of information that every member of the proposal team should know and make sure they have easy access to that information.
• Use technology to create a simple but effective database where the proposal team can access the “institutional memory,” and where they can record new institutional knowledge as the proposal develops. (You could use SharePoint to do this or imitate Intel, which has its own internal wiki named Intelpedia.)

As people age, we learn that our precious memories can become quite fragile. And, even though nonprofits seem more resilient than any individual, they seem to age even more quickly. As a result, nonprofits need to actively preserve their institutional memories. If they do not, proposal development is likely to become less efficient and less effective.

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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop
successful proposals to government agencies
Contact Jayme Sokolow..
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Look for Jayme’s ebook on
Finding & Getting Federal Government Grants.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
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2. Evaluating The Chief Development Officer – II
by Tony Poderis

Last week I suggested that there are many factors that can impact the success of a development program, and, thereby, affect how the CDO’s performance is perceived.

— Significantly high startup costs for new and emerging organizations can greatly and negatively affect the raising of donations and the bottom-line in terms of numbers of gifts, amounts, and when they are received.

— Initial “investment” costs for new major campaigns, such as for capital, endowment, sponsorships and underwriting. All do take time, maybe years, i.e., the word “development” in our profession. These long-term efforts significantly influence when and how much money comes in.

— Focus on time and money spent for telefunding, direct mail, social media, and Internet fund-raising activities differ from organization to organization.

— Impending and costly new and expanding program and service initiatives to be installed by the organization as directed from the long-range strategic plan, will certainly impact the development officer’s performance and results.

— How much, how little, or how not at all, the Board of Trustees directly assist and participate in the development activities. This makes a huge difference from non-profit to non-profit regarding how development staff is evaluated and of course it directly affects the efforts to win new donations, and certainly impacts the results of refused, increased or decreased donations.

— The quality, skills, experience, and capability of any given development staff person can and do range far and wide to greatly influence the development officer’s performance evaluation.

— Performance, good or bad, is greatly influenced with the development office resources at hand and willingly provided by the organization’s leadership in terms of adequate support staff for the Director of Development to satisfy fully all of the requirements and directives of campaign volunteers, donors, and prospects.

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All too often, a development person is required to perform other activities
within the organization which are peripheral to fundraising. I’ll address that
issue and a few others in Part Three of this series, next Wednesday.
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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject(s) of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.

1. Evaluating The Chief Development Officer – I
by Tony Poderis

When it gets to be annual review time for your Chief Development Officer (CDO), no matter what his/her title might be, and you want to apply some criteria to measure her/his performance, what will drive you to say “Nice job,” or “You are not up to what we expected,” or worse – “Your services are no longer needed here?”

“Why, of course,” you say, “it should be the amount of money raised towards the goal!!”

Although that may sound reasonable, it’s not … nor is it realistic.

A number of factors must be considered to be able to determine whether your chief development officer is performing well … or not. (Note: we’re talking about a Chief Development Officer (CDO) — the individual supervising/mentoring the other development staffers, the person in-charge of development planning, the coordinator of all activities by everyone involved in the development process.)

In one regard, the role of that CDO is often more of the facilitator who provides direction, plans, and tools for the people who should, ideally, be the real fundraisers – board members and other volunteers. Now that may sound a little old-fashioned, but a development officer cannot be expected to know, and have relationships with, all of the key people who make the gifts that make the mission happen.

Raising the needed funds must be a team effort, and the evaluation of the CDO hinges upon her/his ability to ensure that the best possible effort was exerted in the most effective manner/contexts. Never should the amount of money raised be the main, or sole, criterion to evaluate that professional.

People looking to measure a development officer’s performance and effectiveness by a dollars-raised-criterion should take into account that the “success” of the development officer is going to be strongly impacted by many other factors, most out of her/his control.

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Next Wednesday, in Part Two of this series, I’ll suggest some of the
factors that can affect the effectiveness of a development operation.
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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. The New Donor’s Journey
by Jonathan Howard

Direct mail is old-fashioned. And that’s a good thing. What works by mail has been time-tested and documented in countless books and blogs over many decades.

So how does an acquisition piece work? Remember the stages of behavior change: attention and interest, weighing pros and cons, learning how to do it, getting ready and then (finally!) doing that new thing: sending money to strangers.

The path from attention to action is a gauntlet of questions, starting with, “Should I even pay attention?” (This question eliminates more potential donors than any other.)

Then more questions. What is this about? Who are these people? Are they legitimate? Have I ever heard of them? Do I care about this cause? Can they really do anything about it? What do they want from me? What’s in this for me?

Each piece in your direct mail acquisition package helps move your readers along this long and narrow path.

The envelope earns attention and arouses interest. You can use color and design to draw attention to the package, but to create interest, you may want to use short teaser copy on the outside of the envelope. Teasers pose interesting questions, offer benefits or begin a story to draw prospects into your letter.

Inside, the main letter moves the reader from interest, through deliberation to decision. This is a long journey. The letter deserves enough length to connect to readers emotionally and answer all the logical questions that stand between them and a gift. Don’t shortchange your prospect with arbitrary limits on the length of your letter.

Acquisition packages often include added print pieces. Make sure these pieces are written and designed to directly reinforce your case or add credibility (with a celebrity endorsement, for instance). Unrelated or generic materials like brochures actually hurt response.

When your reader finishes the main letter and supporting pieces, the only question left should be, “How do I make my donation?”

The reply coupon guides the donor as he responds with action – choosing the right gift amount and making payment. The reply envelope receives that gift and seals it up, ready for mailing back.

Response rates on new donor acquisition mailings are very low – less than one percent is common. (That’s still about 10 times better than email.) Results vary widely depending on the mailing list and, of course, the contents.

Acquisition mailings may cost more than they bring in, but that doesn’t mean you can afford to skip them.

Remember that leaky bucket? Even if it costs you money, you must bring in new donors to replace the unavoidable loss of some donors from year to year.

You make that money back by plugging the leaks. Now your job is donor retention. That means converting one-time donations into habitual behavior – it’s the second and subsequent gifts that add up to significant donor value.

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Jon has more than 25 years in the nonprofit sector,
helping nonprofits develop successful direct response strategies
and effective donor communications.
You can contact Jon at Jonathan Howard
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.

1. Who Are Your Planned Gift Prospects? – Part I
by John Elbare, CFP

Before you get started with planned giving, you need to identify your most likely planned gift prospects.

Planned giving works best when you target your efforts toward a segment of donors who are most inclined to consider a planned gift.

Avoid falling for the common misperception that planned giving is mostly for wealthy donors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, wealthy people do set up planned gifts for their favorite charities … but so do your average middle class donors. In fact, most of your planned gifts – once they start coming in – will be from your regular, average donors.

This is the real beauty of planned giving – it allows your everyday annual donors to become major gift donors, even though they are not wealthy. Here’s how it works. Most middle class donors can only give so much each year, depending on their disposable income. This may be $100 or $1000.

When your donors think about their annual gift, they almost always think about what they have in their checking account. This limits their giving. They think about their budget and what they can comfortably afford.

However, as they save for retirement and accumulate more and more assets, they may very well end up in a position to leave a large gift at the end of life. End-of-life gifts, or planned gifts, are generally made from a donor’s assets – their investment account, bank account, retirement account, the family home, or a vacation home.

This is why planned gifts tend to be much larger than a lifetime gifts. For many donors who leave a planned gift, that one single planned gift may be much larger than all of their cumulative lifetime giving. The national average for planned gifts is about $50,000, which is a true major gift for just about every nonprofit.

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See Part II of “Who Are Your Planned Gift Prospects?” on May 28
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John Elbare, CFP, has spent the last 30 years helping non-profits raise more money
through large, planned gifts. He shows them how to add an effective planned giving
strategy to their current fund raising effort without a lot of extra expense or staff.
You can contact him at John Elbare, CFP.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. Events In Private Homes: Part III – Solicitation
by Hank Lewis

(Continued from Last Wednesday)

Solicitation at a home event, asking attendees to write a check, depends on whether or not this is a first-time meeting for this group of attendees.

If these folks have met before, and have discussed the organization’s needs and their role in helping to satisfy those needs, then they are expecting to be Asked … and probably for a specific dollar figure.

If this is an initial solicitation, following an introduction to the organization and its mission, then it’s not realistic to ask everyone to make a gift of a specific amount. What you’re likely to get in that initial Ask is “go-away money.” Those people who actually write checks will only give amounts that they consider sufficient to meet the social circumstances.

Not that that’s bad. The first gift is usually the hardest one to get, and it gives you the opportunity to put those new donors into your cultivation/stewardship process.

If the homeowner invites (selected) people into his home and asks them to write checks to a nonprofit, then it is likely that he will, at some point in the near future, be asked by his “guests” to write a check to organizations they support. It often becomes a quid-pro-quo, and there would be little or no “bonding” of donors with the nonprofit.

Keep in mind, if the homeowner is well-known, has wealth, and has been a major donor to the organization in question, and/or to other nonprofits, he is undoubtedly aware of the quid-pro-quo. There’s a lot of that in the world of money, so you want to be sure that an event at someone’s home will be of “substance.”

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on either of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of either posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.

1. Keeping Your Bucket Full … With Direct Mail
by Jonathan Howard

Think of your current donor file as a leaky bucket you want to fill. This poses two separate challenges. You need to reduce leaks and add new water at the same time. If you stop doing either task, your water level will sink instantly.

In fact, the data show that the donor bucket at most nonprofits is shot full of gaping holes. The national average rate of donor retention (that is the number of donors who gave in two consecutive 12-month periods) is a horrendous 35 percent.

Even if your retention rate is far, far better, you must add more donors than you lose each year to keep growing. Finding and adding new donors is called donor acquisition.

And to win a first gift you must guide a total stranger through a process most people don’t like – behavior change.

And change is hard.

Scientists tell us that people change customary behaviors, from quitting bad habits to buying new products, in stages. First, we decide whether we even want to think about this new option. Then we weigh the pros and cons. If we still want to give it a try, we need to learn how to do it and collect whatever we’ll need (where did I leave my checkbook?). Only after all this preparation can we finally act.

Every new donor must go through each of these stages from the beginning. Most of your prospects won’t make it all the way to action. Every one who does is your victory.

Direct mail gives us a very durable and expansive platform for walking donors through the stages of behavior change. Mail is tangible, demanding physical interaction. Mail sticks around – the recipient can put it aside and come back when she’s most ready. And a mail package can use all the space it needs to answer every question and objection.

Those are just a few reasons why direct mail has been the workhorse of new donor acquisition for decades. And it still is today, accounting for more than 70 percent of all first-time gifts.

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We’ll take a look at how an acquisition package works on May 7th.
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Jon has more than 25 years in the nonprofit sector,
helping nonprofits develop successful direct response strategies and effective donor communications.
You can contact Jon at Jonathan Howard
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. Events In Private Homes: Part II – Education, Cultivation & Stewardship
by Hank Lewis

Education is mostly facts and figures, with every effort made to “make it about people, not about the organization.” Ii is an introduction to the organization, its history and its mission. It is a discussion of the organization’s leaders – its board, other volunteers and staff.

A basic education would describe the organization’s programs, and the people that have been and are being served. And, it would discuss the monies that have been raised in the past, what impact those funds have had; and, what funding is currently needed, and for what purposes.

If the above sounds familiar, its pretty much a description of what should be included in an organization’s Case Statement.

Cultivation is about having the homeowner talk about why he supports the organization’s activities and why he is happy with his relationship with the nonprofit and the recognition he has gotten for being a long-time supporter. The ideal outcome of effective cultivation is to get prospective donors to want to experience the same “satisfaction” engendered by the person(s) who is/are doing their cultivating.

An event in someone’s home can be to discuss which (aspects) of the organization’s programs appeal to attendee’s interests. or a meeting of a Giving Club or Giving Circle – to decide on their dollar goals and/or what programs and activities they’re going to support with the funds they raise.

Stewardship is about an organization’s relationship with those folks who are already donors. It can include thanking donors for their support; reporting to them about how their contributions have made a difference; celebrating attainment of a goal – program and/or financial; bringing them up-to-date on how/what the nonprofit is-and-has-been doing; and, getting them involved in the cultivation of others.

Stewardship is the cultivation of current donors … to get them to where they’re ready and want to give again.

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Next Wednesday “Events In Private Homes: Part III – Solicitation”
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on either of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of either posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page.

1. How Many Development Staffers Do We Need to Attain Our Fundraising Goals?
by Tony Poderis

I’ve often been asked about a formula/guideline for determining the number of development staff needed relative to an organization’s fundraising goals?

I always reply, strongly, that “there’s no such animal.” There simply cannot be such a formula developed that has any relation to reality. No way!

From the following common nonprofit activities and circumstances, you can see why there is no way to come up with a formula to know exactly, before fundraising goals are set, or when they are presented to the chief development officer, how many development staff s/he should have to meet those goals.

• The basic wide range of operating budgets, from the (few) thousands to the multimillions.

• Whether, in some organizations, there are earned income revenues helping to meet expenses (i.e., universities and hospitals), versus those nonprofits having to raise of 100% of their expenses (abuse shelters, food-banks, etc.).

• Startup costs for new and emerging organizations.

• Initial “investment” costs for new major campaigns, such as for capital, endowment, sponsorships and underwriting.

• The types of fundraising mechanisms – i.e., face-to-face, tele-funding, direct mail, email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

• How much, how little, or not at all, the Members of the Board of Trustees directly assist and participate in the development activities. (This can make a huge difference.)

• The quality, skills, experience, and capability of any given development staff person are major factors. (This is perhaps, the biggest variable influencing the number of staff needed in a given organization.)

• Whether the “development” person is required to perform other activities within the organization – i.e., marketing, PR, communications, etc.

• The degree of coordination required and desired with fundraising volunteers, and the number of them needed to effectively/fully implement the various campaigns and special events.

And there are, no doubt, even more reasons why you will not find such a formula – or if you do, why you should ignore it.

The number of professionals, and their roles in the development process has everything to do with the funding needs, priorities, available resources, and the capability of the staffers – determined on a case-by-case basis.

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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $3.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. Events In Private Homes: Part I
Education? Cultivation? Solicitation? Stewardship?
by Hank Lewis

An Executive Director, indicating that she doesn’t “have time or resources to expend on a feel-good [event], and very little time for organizing yet another event” of any kind, wrote that, “A donor has offered his home for a private event … [but that she (the ED) has] always shied away from these b/c no one can agree what the purpose/format should be….”

To begin my response, I’d observe that (as in the title of this piece) there are four basic purposes for such an activity … singly or in combination; and, the first issue for consideration should be the determination that there is a need for a specific type of event, with a specific purpose/goal/objective.

Assuming that such a need exists, that the homeowner is someone whose stature/renown could motivate individuals to want to attend, and/or that the home being offered is one that would do the same, the next question to be resolved relates to who would be the appropriate individuals to be invited to an event at that person’s home.

Will the invitees be known to the host? How well? Have they been to the host’s home previously? Why? How often? Are they aware of the host’s relationship with the nonprofit?

What will be the role of the host? Will it be limited to, “Welcome to my home,” will he be the center of the meeting, the presenter and the question answerer, or will it be somewhere in-between ??

Is the event going to be a “fund-raiser” with little substance? Will the attendees leave without having learned a lot about the nonprofit, or will they leave wanting to know more?

If the thought is that the host would ask attendees to “give,” it must be understood that people who are solicited in a group setting are not being (cannot be) asked for a major gift, they can only (all) be asked to give at a specific level … a level that’s likely to be significantly lower than what they’d actually be capable of giving.

[A major gift, by definition, is one that can only be solicited one-on-
one (face-to-face) by the person(s) who has/have been significantly
involved with the cultivation of the (potential) donor.]
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(“Events In Private Homes” continues
in the April 23rd & April 30th postings.)
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Have a comment or a question about starting,
evaluating or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
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The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
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If you would like to comment/expand on either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.”

1. Making Your Nonprofit Conference A Special Event
by Natalie Lewis

We in the nonprofit sector attend (and often arrange) our fair share of conferences; and, how many times have we walked thru an exhibit hall door and thought, “This place looks exactly like most of the other (boring) exhibit halls I’ve seen.”

When was the last time you went to a conference, walked into the exhibit hall and were pleasantly surprised that it looked new, different or interesting?

The old format of long rows of booths or six-foot tables is being replaced with some real imagination and creativity. Exhibitors are sharing space with cafes and other street scenes including park benches and a coffee bar. Attendees are following walking paths that curve and bend and lead to a cluster of exhibitors or a sound stage or an author’s corner.

Gone is the boredom that hit you at the door when you looked out and saw a mass of booths and tables with water stations. Instead, you can now see a village with storefronts, cafes, lounge areas, and of course, the vendors … who are happy to see people (potential buyers) visiting and revisiting the area. Sales/contacts are up, vendors feel loved, and they’ll want to come back. What could be better?

Strolling through the exhibit hall has become an activity beyond purchasing or learning about new products. There is more time to network and grab a cup of coffee or a sandwich. It is a place to which you want to return, many times, before the conference is over. It is a happening, and a destination.

We recently did a conference and turned the exhibit hall into a village with space for vendors, cafes and some intimate learning sessions over continental breakfast. The exhibitors were thrilled with the new model and the increased traffic, while the attendees (repeatedly) found themselves checking out the village to see what was going on.

Keep your vendors happy; show others that they could really benefit from being one of your conference exhibitors, and there will be more vendors who will be wanting to “sign up.” Would you object to having those additional vendor fees ??

Just because “we’ve always done it the way we’ve done it,” doesn’t mean we should continue with the same-old-same-old. It is always time for a change. Your attendees and vendors will thank you for the redo!

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Have a comment or a question about creating
or expanding your special event?
Ask Natalie.
With over 30 years in conference and event planning,
she can help you turn your vision into reality.
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Look for Natalie’s ebook on Special Events.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
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2. Your CFC Ambassadors
by Bill Huddleston

Where the basic definition of ambassador refers to the relations between countries, the definition, in its broad sense, more accurately fits everyone associated with a non-profit. All are, in some way, actual representatives of your organization. Hopefully, they are “ambassadors” of goodwill.

Since everyone associated with your non-profit (paid staff, volunteers and board members) will talk to others about “their” organization, do you make sure they have the proper/appropriate training and orientation?

In many instances, the training program you have for your volunteers may be the most important training program you have. Why? Because the volunteers don’t sit in on staff meetings or receive the staff-mail messages; and, with the exception of your board members, they are not at board meetings. So, they may be getting a more limited view of your non-profit than is ideal for your “ambassadors.”

What is the relationship between the paid staff and the volunteer staff? Obviously, in some non-profits it’s great, while in others, it’s dismal.

Obviously the first-step is to have a great non-profit, with a compelling mission and a dedicated and passionate staff. But that’s still not enough, once you’ve taken care of those basics, how are you going to tell your stories? Through your people, and “your people” includes everyone who’s associated with your organization.

This does not mean that everyone should be empowered to talk to a reporter who calls, far from it.

You need to have controls and procedures in place for that circumstance, but you also want to let your dedicated volunteers know what the top three priorities are for the year, and how they are helping “their” non-profit achieve them!

In our next couple of CFC postings, we’ll look at some ways to assess your CFC effort as part of your non-profit’s overall sustainability program.

Resources:
http://www.pointsoflight.org/signature-events/national-volunteer-week
http://www.pointsoflight.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/nvw_celebrate_service_resourceguide10jan13.pdf
Global Youth Service Day GYSD.org April 11-13, 2014

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
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If you would like to comment/expand on either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.”

Because of the time-sensitivity of the first article, we’ve moved the postings on “Events in Private Homes” to April 9.

1. The CFC and Leverage: National Volunteer Week & Global Youth Service Day
by Bill Huddleston

This year is the 40th anniversary of National Volunteer Week, and this year it runs from April 6-12th.

The lead sponsor is the Points of Light organization, and the number of non-profits participating with special events, recognition events, service projects and publications during that period has grown exponentially since its inception.

April is full of opportunities for volunteers. There are many service projects and recognition events that take place during the month – including National Parks Day, Earth Day celebrations and workshops, and Global Youth Service Day.

Global Youth Service Day was established in 1988, and this year it is April 11-13th, overlapping with the National Volunteer Week. It is celebrated in 135 countries, making it the single largest service event in the world.

Why do these two celebrations matter to you as a CFC non-profit? Leverage !!

Whether taken singly or together, they offer opportunities for your non-profit to participate in nationally recognized celebrations, get some of your mission related work done, and increase your non-profit’s visibility in your community.

In any media releases, website notices you produce, just include your CFC code number as part of the standard information about your organization.

Both the National Volunteer Week and the Global Youth Service Day websites have resource manuals with sample press releases, guides to using social media for your events, and logos and other tools that can be used by your organization as a participant. Their links are at the end of this post.

Because these events are nationally known, the media is looking for stories about both.

In earlier posts, I wrote about the value of creating a “culture of philanthropy” in your non-profit; and, as I’ve been working on how to best convey this concept to board members, staff and volunteers, the word that I believe encapsulates this goal is “ambassador.”

Resources:
http://www.pointsoflight.org/signature-events/national-volunteer-week
http://www.pointsoflight.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/nvw_celebrate_service_resourceguide10jan13.pdf
Global Youth Service Day GYSD.org April 11-13, 2014

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See “Your CFC Ambassadors” — next Wednesday
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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. Building Blocks Of Direct Mail
by Jonathan Howard

Direct mail success depends on the interplay of three factors:
•  The Creative
•  The Offer
•  The List

The Creative part of your approach, the written message and supporting graphic design, should use every piece in the mailing, from the outside of the envelope to the return envelope you’ve enclosed. Every word and picture, tells part of a story designed to move the reader toward one very specific action – a donation. If it doesn’t help, it hurts.

The concept of your Offer, what you will provide to the “buyer” on what terms, comes from commercial marketing and often creates confusion on the fundraising side. “Buy one, get one free,” is a very familiar and successful sales offer that appeals to our self-interest.

In fundraising, the offer is less about what you’ll do for the donor and more about what you’ll do with the donor through their contribution: “Together, we’ll find a cure!” We offer donors emotionally satisfying opportunities to express their values and their humanity, we don’t offer them stuff.

The List refers is the set of individuals who will receive a specific mailing. One message does not fit all. Effective fundraisers use segmentation to create sub-lists of people with shared characteristics and send mailings tailored to each group’s interests and past behaviors.

For instance, always use separate mailings for “current” donors (e.g. those who gave in the prior 12 months) from mailings to people who have never given and those who have not given for some time.

A renewal mailing focuses on thanks and building a deeper relationship with existing donors. A donor acquisition mailing (a mailing targeted at winning first time gifts) must spend more time on making the whole case for your organization and persuading readers to do something they’ve never done before.

As noted in my last post, if we mail 10,000 letters requesting first-time donations and get 40 checks back, we’ve had a response rate of .4 percent. Appeals to past donors usually do much better, with response rates of 10 percent, 20 percent or more.

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Jon has more than 25 years in the nonprofit sector,
helping nonprofits develop successful direct response strategies and effective donor communications.
You can contact Jon at Jonathan Howard
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.”

1. Proposed Changes to CFC Regulations Update: How You Can Help Save the Combined Federal Campaign – Part II
by Bill Huddleston

As I mentioned, last week, even after the Congressional Hearing, there has been no public response from the OPM staff to the concerns raised about the proposed regulations.

What does that mean?
Having worked in-and-with bureaucratic organizations for over 25 years, I understand that a bureaucracy’s first reaction in a controversy is often to deny it. That’s what OPM is doing; they are refusing to acknowledge that they have screwed up big time.

What’s the likely next step?
The bureaucrat’s second reaction is often anger; and, coupled with denial, the likelihood is that OPM will publish the proposed regulations with minimal changes to their original publication. Those in the know estimate that this is likely to occur in late winter or early spring.

What can you do to help save the CFC?
Here are three steps you can take that can have significant impact on the future of the CFC.
1. If you are currently in the CFC, record what it means to you and your organization in terms of unrestricted revenue, and the impact it has had on your non-profit’s ability to meet its mission.

2. Write a letter or call the office of the new Director of OPM, Katherine Archuleta, outlining your concerns.

3. Call your Congressman and Senators and ask why OPM is trying to damage the CFC beyond repair at a time when so many people need the services provided by the CFC charities.

An important point to make is that OPM did not follow the recommendations of the CFC-50 Commission, which was chaired by two former members of Congress, Tom Davis and Beverly Byron.

With the CFC being the single largest source of unrestricted funds for non-profits in the USA, the proposed regulations will harm many CFC charities (particularly the smaller ones) and the people they serve.

As we learn of specific proposals we will keep you informed, and we thank you, in advance, for taking part in the fight.

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector,
Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

2. How Do You Deal with Grant Deadlines?
by Jayme Sokolow

Deadlines are to proposal professionals as water is to fish. They are the lifeblood of our profession. Dealing with them effectively will make a big (positive) difference to your emotional well-being, and to your professional career.

Valerie J. Mann has written a very informative article about “How to Deal with Deadlines” in the most recent Journal of the Grant Professionals Association (Fall 2013).

I combine her advice with my own in the following list:

• Work backwards from the due date to set deadlines for all the major steps that need to occur. Display this visually on a calendar that is distributed to the proposal team and senior management.

• Set your final deadline several days before the published deadline for submitting your proposal, and remember to factor in final proofing and production time.

• Make your assignments to proposal team members very specific. The more specific the assignments, the greater the likelihood the deadline will be met.

• Follow up with team members on an ongoing basis to ensure that they are, and will be, meeting their deadlines.

• Make sure that key members of the team will be accessible during the final critical five days before the due date.

• If you have problems meeting certain deadlines, tackle the most stubborn and most important ones first.

• Be honest with senior management and don’t be afraid to ask for additional resources, such as consultants and outside experts, to address specific portions of the proposal.

• Pace your proposal team and avoid draining their energy, especially toward the end of the process. Encourage work breaks, the lack of which leads to lower productivity.

Deadlines should be the proposal professional’s best allies, not their worst nightmares. Planning on how to meet deadlines will not only ensure timely proposal submission, but will make the process easier for you … and for your colleagues.

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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop
successful proposals to government agencies
Contact Jayme Sokolow..
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Look for Jayme’s ebook on
Finding & Getting Federal Government Grants.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
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If you would like to comment/expand on the either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.”